Forrest of Lies
by The Kaiser Marcus
Summary: It has been a few months since Jericho started living in Jump City, and during that time he has often visited Raven. What happens when someone else tries to step in?
1. Chapter 1

**I would have had this up earlier, but had a document problem. That's been solved though, so here is that long ago promised Act 1.5 continuing my Jericho-Raven saga thingie. And yes, Forrest is deliberately spelled that way for a reason, you'll see if you read.  
**

**Act 1.5, Chapter 1**

It was very nice outside today. The temperature wasn't very hot or cold, just the right type of mild. People were out enjoying the good weather; walking around the city; playing in the park; among other sorts of things. It was just one of those days when people felt nothing could go wrong, and everything seemed right and enjoyable in the world.

Jericho, at least, certainly thought that. He was dressed as he was on most occasions; purple vest, white undershirt with a high collar covering his throat; black pants; boots; and his arms, legs, and midsection bands. He drew no attention to himself, the citizens of the city were quite used to seeing superhero get-ups to be surprised by the strangeness of them. He waved or nodded at almost everyone who passed him by. He had a great reason to be happy, no doubt about that.

He eventually reached where he'd been walking towards for the past hour. Jericho looked up at the huge tower on the not-so-distant island. He walked down to the docks on the city-side of the bay, and boarded one destined for the Teen Titans' home. Tourists could board these boats and view the tower from up close on them, though never getting to land on the tower's island. Jericho, of course, was an exception. The boat's captain tipped his hat to the young hero, before letting him disembark on the island. Jericho smiled back, watching for a few seconds as the boat started to sail back to the city's coast. He only needed the ride when coming to the island, one of the Titans could always get him back to the other side easily.

He made his way up the rather-flat island, passing an odd rock or two here and there. Most of the rocks had been cleared for the construction of the Tower, and the few left were too small or too near the coast to be any problem. Eventually, Jericho got to the door leading into the tower, and pressed the "door bell" of the place. A small metal sheet uncovered a hand scanner above the button, which Jericho used to get clearance into the place. Sure enough, a few seconds after the machine accepted him the doors to the Tower swung open. Jericho walked in, the doors closing in after.

No one was in the lobby. Jericho didn't expect anyone of course, there never really was. He often had wondered why this part of the Tower had been built, but never asked the question. It probably served some purpose, he was sure of that. Cyborg, the main designer of the Tower, was incredibly smart, and wouldn't have put something in the tower that didn't have a purpose.

Jericho walked across the red carpet and started going up the stairs. There were a lot of flights in the place. Jericho was sure there was an elevator in the Tower as well, though he'd never asked about that either. He didn't see much need for it of course, he could easily get up all the stairs he needed to climb without much effort. He was soon on the floor with the main lobby, sure he'd made it there in his best time yet. He smiled at the thought, and at what today could bring to him here.

The door to main lobby slid open automatically for him. The people already in there picked their heads up to look at the newcomer.

"Hey Jericho." Cyborg called. "You come to play some games with me and Beast Boy?"

Jericho shook his head, still smiling. He brought his hands up to his chest, and began moving them about to speak for his thoughts. Cyborg nodded, before putting a hand up to his chin, rubbing it.

"Huh, I think Raven went up to the roof this morning. Hope you two have a good time."

Jericho nodded at the cyborg, and waved to the others as he walked back out the door and into the hallway. He heard the others send goodbyes his way, from Beast Boy's "later dude" to Starfire's "And a glorious day to you!". He navigated the numerous hallways in the complex, moving up floor after floor. Cyborg had given him a tour of the place on one of his few trips here, and he'd been able to keep it all straight in his head. Luckily though, the roof was much closer to the lobby than the ground floor had been, making his travel time much shorter. He reached the door to the roof quick time, and opened it slowly.

He always did this, since he didn't want to make a lot of noise or such. When she was on the roof, she usually meditated. Quiet was a good approach to that sort of situation, as one wrong (and loud) step could send the intruder off the side of the place (Jericho had seen it happen more than once with a particular green Titan...). He pressed his face to the crack between the door and wall, looking and listening out.

There she was. Standing there, facing out to where the sun was coming up. Long cloak with few creases covering down to her blue shoes and up to her purple short-cut hair. The sight of Raven set Jericho's pulse racing, no matter how many times he came up here to ask her for the day with him. He didn't consider these sorts of things dates of any kind though, no, Jericho still hadn't worked up the courage to actually use that word with her. Just spending time together, that was enough for him with her. Definitely enough. He pushed his head out the doorway a bit more, getting a better look at the empath.

His eyebrows furrowed a bit. Something seemed... off.

That wasn't just... Raven over there...

"Hey, come on baby, what's up with the cold shoulder treatment all of the time?" The voice was rough, cocky. Jericho's pulse started racing for another reason than seeing Raven entirely.

"Forrestor, will you knock it off?" Raven's voice sounded annoyed. Jericho felt the urge to burst out from behind the door, run up to the two, and tell the guy to stop bothering Raven. He felt the urge, and then fought it down. If the guy was really bothering her, Raven could've easily booted him off the tower. No, she... wasn't that annoyed by him, apparently.

"Ah, Raven, what's got into you now? You weren't speaking like just a few minutes ago."

"I... I'm sensing someone else is near. Look, you better go now Forrestor, before anyone sees us."

Jericho's eyes opened alarmingly, and he ran back down the stairs as fast as he could, not even bothering to close the door. He was moving so fast through the hallways he didn't even notice the half-metal teen ahead of him until he ran straight into it.

"Woah, you alright Jericho?" Cyborg said as he grabbed the smaller teen's hand and hoisted him back on his feet. Jericho rubbed his head, thanking his friend for the help. Cyborg shot him a quizzical look. "Why isn't Raven with you, man? Thought you were coming to take her around today?"

Jericho rubbed his head a bit longer than he needed to. He looked up at Cyborg, and motioned with his hands. Cyborg kept up the quizzical stare, but shrugged.

"So... she didn't feel like it today? That's strange, but I guess she must not have been feeling too well." Jericho nodded, and began to walk along with Cyborg. "So, how about those games then?"

Jericho smiled numbly but shook his head. He motioned with his hands again, keeping up the half-grin. Cyborg brought up his left hand and pointed straight forward.

"Elevator is just down the corridor there, second door to the right. Have a good one, man."

**End of Chapter 1**

**Hoped you enjoyed reading this. More eventually. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

"Cyborg, have you seen Jericho?"

Cyborg looked up at Raven from across the lobby. He'd been working on the gamestation for the last couple minutes, Beast Boy had chucked his controller with more effort than usual and hit the monitor. The damage wasn't major, but annoying to fix all the same. He stopped thinking about the repairs long enough to answer his teammate. "Nah, he was here earlier, but said you were busy."

Raven nodded her head, keeping her surfacing annoyance off her face. "Did he say where he was heading?"

"Nah," Cyborg replied, head back in the machinery, "he just left."

"Alright, thanks."

Raven left the lobby and started walking down the hallway. She'd hoped that it had been Beast Boy or one of the others who'd seen her and Forrestor on the roof. It hadn't been though, just great. She hadn't planned on this, or explaining the situation to anyone. And now it'd gone from annoying to headache-inducing in the last half-hour. Shaking her head, she threw her hood back over her head, and made for the roof. As soon as she was there, she floated up and flew off into the sky, towards the city.

_'Unless he's going crazy, he should be where he always is around now.'_

**-T-**

Jericho sat under a tree in the city's park. The people all around him were taking advantage of the good weather, running and eating and even swimming in the lake. The mute teen however, was content in just sitting there, sketching pictures of any wildlife that stopped long enough for him to get a good look at them. He'd already compiled several pictures when he heard a familiar voice from above.

"Jericho."

Jericho looked up and saw Raven sitting in the tree just above him. The mute had a split-second urge not to smile, but it went away as soon as it'd occurred to him. He smiled and motioned for Raven to sit down next to him, which she did. He put down the pad and pencil and folded his hands behind his head, looking out across the park. Raven looked a bit uneasy.

"Jericho, you saw me on the roof, didn't you?"

Slowly, he took his hands from behind his head and put them on his lap. He nodded. He then started signing something to Raven, who stopped him halfway through.

"There's nothing between us, Forrestor and me, that's his name."

Jericho looked at Raven quickly, his eyebrows receding past his hair line. He tried to sign again, only to be interrupted once more.

"He just recently started showing up. We ran into him while we were fighting some HIVE students. Just another Honorary Titan that hangs out a little too much." Raven studied the look in Jericho's eyes. "And also one that would rather spend time with me than the others. But trust me Jericho, there's nothing going on, he's more annoying than charming."

Jericho felt like a knot in his chest loosen. The nervous grip on his gut subsided, and was replaced by the calm he'd been trying to get for the last half hour in the park. He smiled again, this time with no conservations about it. Raven joined him in it, and then said, "So... want to go spend the day together like we planned?"

Jericho nodded, his chest swelling.

**-T-**

"Raven, you have returned!" Starfire exclaimed as the two Titans passed in the hallway.

"Just like I planned." Raven said, keeping most of her sarcasm at bay. Starfire hadn't meant anything by saying that, unlike how Beast Boy might have. Plus, she'd had a nice enough day that one of Beast Boy's quips probably wouldn't have earned more than a stern look from her direction.

"Will you be joining the others for the night of movies?" Starfire asked, before bringing up a hand to their faces and counting off titles. "Robin has rented the 'Last Knight'; Cyborg 'The Program'; and Beast Boy has taped and wishes us to view a very long documentary on this planet's living organisms!"

"Sounds... great, Star. But I think I'm going to just go up to my room." Raven said. She'd said this before when the selections weren't exactly stellar, but today she felt a bit... more tired than usual. The sun had suddenly burst from behind the clouds today and turned what'd been a nice type of mild into a sweltering exhaustive heat. That hadn't stopped the two of them from doing everything they usually did in each other's company, but it did make it more uncomfortable,though neither of them had let the other know.

Starfire didn't bother her about it though, and aside from wishing her a "night of goodness", whisked off to the lobby to watch movies with the others. Raven made her way to her room so she could grab a change of clothes and get ready for bed. When she was about to open the door, she heard something on the other side. Muttering something to herself, she threw it open with her powers, and flicked on the light switch.

"Beast Boy, how many times have I told you--"

Raven stopped in mid-sentence, seeing who it actually was in her room at her desk.

"Raven, didn't tell me you were seeing someone on the side."

Raven's first response was the obvious one, ignoring what the other teen said. "How'd you get in here?" Eric Forrestor laughed in his deep, husky voice.

"I just decided to drop by. Come on Raven, I'm a superhero, I've got powers." He waggled his fingers and grinned.

"Do those include breaking-and-entering?" Raven shot back, feeling her anger start to build a little. She was telling the truth when she told Jericho there was nothing between Forrestor and her. He was too arrogant for his own good, and this just proved it.

"They might," Eric mused, moving from Raven's desk and towards her. "You never really seemed that interested in knowing me. Can I take it you do now?"

"No." Raven said, taking a step back. She'd seen Forrestor use his charm on other girls, and they always seemed to fall for it. Sometimes the empath even felt some weird pull to him when he started acting like that. It wasn't anything normal though, there was something... sinister in the attraction to him. Almost like it was... forced, as if something foreign was putting it into her subconscious. She resisted feeling anything towards him, other than the anger at his unasked-for presence. He walked a little closer to her.

"Ah, come on Raven, don't know why you gotta' be like that. Lose the blondie, he's not a real man. Can't bring you any... satisfaction like I can."

"I'm not dating him, and I'm definitely not dating you." Raven said firmly. She stood her ground this time; she'd be out of her room if she took another step away. Remembering her communicator, she reached a hand to her belt. Eric Forrestor rushed forward right then, making to grab it.

A sheet of black energy erupted between the two, and Forrestor bounced off the shield. Raven pushed the button on her belt, signaling the others. She looked over at Forrestor as he was getting back up, and gave him one last chance.

"Leave, before my friends show up."

To her dismay, Forrestor laughed in his husky voice again.

"Think I haven't already handled them? While we were up here yelling, I snuck through the vents and knocked them out."

Raven's eyes widened at Forrestor's last comment. "But, if you've been in this room with me the whole time, how'd you--"

"I've got manipulation over my soul. You know, split it up into parts. Sort of like your soul self and all. Would've known this if you'd been more open and all."

Raven was very quiet for a moment. As she watched from behind her shield of obsidian, little tear-shaped black blobs snaked their way out of the vent in the wall. They came to Forrestor, and crawled under his pant leg, melding and disappearing into his flesh. Raven thought a few seconds, and then chose her next words carefully.

"What do you want?"

Forrestor cracked his neck, and started walking towards her. The black energy around him started to seep out of skin, and fluctuate around him.

"Want Raven? Oh, that's easy. All I want is you.

"And that delicious soul of yours."

**End of Chapter Two**

** Note:Substituted this in for the previous one when Hhgbh pointed out a repeated paragraph. Sorry 'bout that.  
**


	3. Chapter 3

Raven watched from behind her soul self, studying Forrestor's every detail. Eric paced back and forth in turn, smacking with his lips and staring longingly at the empath with a slight craze in his eyes.

"Should have told you really, I know, and that was my fault that we got off the wrong foot like this. But I'm here now, and ready to make up for it. All I've got to ask from you is to lower that shield of yours."

"And what," Raven shot back, "-just forget and make up?"

Forrestor stopped walking and leaned so close to the shield his face was barely an inch from the protective energy. He widened his eyes to a degree Raven didn't think possible, so now the craze he'd held moments before swept his entire face. His lips thinned back and his teeth bared out, and Raven could see his greatly expanded canines that hung over his bottom teeth. He flitted his tongue around them, and even cut himself on the teeth that seemed to grow larger still right in front of Raven's eyes.

"You're... a Vampire?" she finally said, as Forrestor felt his fangs and grew increasingly paler and gaunt. What had started out in front of her as a completely normal male teenager was soon becoming the most accurate depiction of a vampire of legends. Forrestor jabbed a bony elegonated towards her, his hairline receding and his skin stretching to what seemed the breaking point across his skull.

"Blunt, but you've hit it pretty much on the nail. There's no blood involved, despite what you might think, but after I take what I need from you you'll be dead either way." Forrestor cackled and flexed those increasingly-looking brittle and old fingers. Raven had the absurd idea past through her mind that she might just have to wait another minute or so and Forrestor would disintegrate before her very eyes, having attempted to get his latest nourishment a few days or even hours too late. And as if the creature could read her mind, Forrestor cackled again.

"Don't worry about how I look. Since I feast on souls and not flesh, with most of my soul traveling around this tower right now I just look half-dead. As soon as it returns to me, with your soul self of course, I'll be looking seventeen for another one thousand years more or so. Should feel privileged Raven, the average girl's soul only gets me about one hundred."

"It's a real honor." Raven mocked. She suddenly heard something sneaking around behind her. Whirling around, she looked just in time to see one of those black shadow blobs emitted from Forrestor lunge at her. It grabbed onto her leg, and immediately began to spread all along its length. Panicked, Raven let down her shield and Forrestor took the opportunity to lunge at her. Whatever the blob exactly was it didn't stop Raven from using her limb and she kicked with as much force as she could muster at Eric, connecting with his chest and shoving him back. The sounds of bones cracking met Raven's ears as she felt the blob loosening its grip and speeding over to rejoin its master, who lay in the wreck of bookcase. Whatever he had said, detaching his 'soul' from him had weakened his physical self. But it was little consolation as Forrestor rose back up immediately, looking a fleshy seventeen again with rage rather than disturbed pleasure painting his face.

"Alright, seems I didn't give you enough credit. You might not make this easy, but I've had over a millenia of practice getting what I've wanted."

"I doubt what you've wanted has always fought back!" And with that Raven sent her bed flying into Forrestor's side, pinning him against the wall. As Raven kept the pressure out the wall began to crack, but Forrestor was able to break through the bed first, and charged at Raven again, his looks again taking an inhuman element; eyes milky white, skin stretched thin, and fingers more like daggers. A construction beam encased in obsidian energy shot up through the floor and caught Forrestor in the chest, and Raven focused her mind as she pushed both beam and monster through floor after floor. Eventually the beam shot through the roof and into the night sky, before falling off into the coast of the island into the bay's waters.

Raven waited a few moments to see if Forrestor would return, and when he hadn't she left her ruined room to find the others. Fear for their safety crossed her mind. She hoped that Forrestor's drive to get her soul had caused him to see the others not as potential victims but obstacles in his way to her. As she reached the Common Room, she found the other Titans. She immediately came down to them, checked their breathing and pulse, and found herself slightly relieved. But a lost soul didn't necessarily mean the body would die. The empath focused her mind and clenched her eyes shut, and moved almost effortlessly to a slightly higher plane . Reopening her eyes she found the entire world outlined in black and white, except for living beings in the room. Each one of the Titans had a deep glowing color outline of their bodies where their physical properties would have been, each one distinct, but none less vibrant than the other. Relieved, Raven was about to come back to the purely physical plane when a thunderous stepping was heard coming behind her. Raven turned and saw a great shadow, just as dark and yet distinct from the walls and non-living objects of the tower, coming into the room.

"If you were going to lead me right to your soul self, you should have just told me." As Forrestor spoke it was again the cackling, strained voice of his true millennial age self. He had grown to perhaps twice his original height, standing at some twelve feet and scraping his soul on the room's ceiling. Raven pulled panels from either side of the room and sent them on a collision course for Forrestor, but the giant creature pushed them away, sending them flying back.

"You're in my territory now, Raven. How can such a young and inexperienced soul fight with one of a creature that has the experience a thousand years? I am no longer bound by simple physical constraints thanks to your concern for your friends, and it shall be the downfall of you!" Forrestor's voice seemed no longer to emenate from his soul or self but from all around Raven, as if he was the entire room, and his last words echoed incessantly. He had also shed any semblance of an average seventeen year-old, and was speaking as a true ancient, one enraged at a mortal thwarting his designs.

Raven took a step back, then another, as Forrestor continued to approach her. Suddenly, the creature launched itself at her, and Raven phased into the floor, thinking she'd dodged the attack. But the creature laughed and jutted his hand into the floor, grabbing Raven in a vicegrip and pulling back up to face him.

"I thought I told you you could not stave off me!" Raven twisted in Forrestor's grip, his fingers tightening with every second, shooting pain through every sense she had. As the monster brought her up to his mouth, she ignored her pain as best as possible, encased her hand in her soul self, and punched Forrestor in the face. Forrestor let go of Raven and writhed in pain as his soul distorted slightly, coming into such violent contact with another so opposite spectre. Physical pain could be ignored for a time, but tears and distortions on the soul took a much worse toll, And Raven's entire torso throbbed with a mind-torturing pain. She had to maintain distance from Forrestor, for another harmful contact like that one could render her unable to resist any more of his attacks. Instead she flew towards and out the Common Room's window, and into the wide open space of the city's bay.

Or at least that is what she thought she'd find.

"Surprised, Raven?" and she could hear Forrestor all over, though he was not to be seen. As she looked back at the Tower, she was shocked to see it had been replaced with decrepit, falling spiral towers and stairwells that seemed to lead to nowhere. The entire air in fact seemed to be filled with a blood-red background, and populated with spiraling walkways and caverns that seemed halfway carved from their stone and completely haphazard in their design.

"It is my home, my beloved corner of Bohemia that I could not bear to be without, and so I took it with me wherever I need. For those sacrifices I find particularly energetic I unleash them here so that I may hunt them. Of course, for you I had no intention of doing so, since I have slightly overwaited to feed and you are far more energetic than I had hoped. No matter though, you are now weak, and shall walk the paths of many other cursed maidens before giving in to the inevitable."

Raven looked for a walkway that led closest to the city and flew up towards it. The city on this plane level also seemed to be engulfed in this picturesque nightmare, but to stay in the tower was certain peril, as the confines of the halls only worked to Forrestor's advantage.

"This is... really bad." Raven said, almost as if in an attempt to reassure herself of the daunting situation right in front of her. Not knowing what else to do, she started walking along the the walkway, heading for the nightmarish city.

"I'd almost wish for Slade to show up now, anything could be better than this mess."

**~T~**

Jericho had joined the throngs of people gathering along the bay's edge to stare up at the great nighmare of a storm that had surrounded the Titans Tower, and with widened eyes wondered what on earth could actually be going on there. There were whispers, rumors created by the people that this was some sort of weird experiment by the team, or that perhaps they were under attack. Jericho was much more willing to believe the second, but if it was an attack... it seemed far more sinister than anything he'd seen. Slowly but surely he began to walk through the crowd, and his getup and the local know-how of him being associated with the Titans granted him passage through to the edge of the bay. He looked for the boat that traveled back over to the island, but couldn't find the captain, who must have joined the rest of the city staring up at the nightmare of red and black and grey that had gathered around the tower.

Spotting a man who was dressed to swim and seemed to have only stopped to also be one in the crowds, Jericho thought up a small plan. He waved to the man, who looked back at the blonde teen and, as if forgetting about the dark and foreboding winds around the tower, grinned and waved back. That was all Jericho needed.

_Contact._

Jericho was in the swimmer's body before the man knew what had happened, and had dived in before the man could say a word. The crowd momentarily forgot about the crisis at the tower and instead focused on now-seemingly crazy swimmer who was going straight towards it. It only took a few minutes at a good pace to reach the island, and as soon as he had, Jericho jumped out as the swimmer turned around screaming and swam as fast as he could back. Jericho felt a slight pang of guilt for possibly risking the man's life, but ignored it as he ran up towards the tower, and into the front door.

He decided to take the elevator as all power in the tower still seemed to be on, and waited anxiously in the metal box as it ascended the building. Then all of a sudden, Jericho felt a surge of feeling explode in him, and he collapsed in the box. It was only temporary and he quickly picked himself up, before trying to see exactly what been the cause of his momentary lapse. It was at that moment when Jericho noticed his entire surrounding had changed. Rather than all the delicate shades of gray and blue that the elevator had been colored in before, now it was a simple flat black with white outlines. As he reached his hand out to touch the newly colored doors, and it was then that he noticed his own self had changed. He looked about his body, and found himself bathed in a chalky white and blue glow. He ran his hand along the elevator to see if anything happened, but it didn't seem to. The elevator seemed to finally reach the Common Room level, and he ran out, only to recoil in shock at seeing the Titans lying about the room, unconscious. He checked the closest one's pulse, and found Robin alive, along with his entire body outlined in a bright red. Starfire laid nearby, glowing orange, Beast Boy furthest away, a torch of bright green, and Cyborg between the other three, a pure cerulean. What any of this meant was a mystery to Jericho, but he continued to look about for any sign of the fifth Titan, Raven. He almost despaired when he could not find or see any trace of her, amidst the four titans and the stark black and white walls and furniture of the room. If he had come too late, if something had happened to her; his heart was a mix of emotions and he nearly opened his mouth to scream something, forgetting for a moment how it was a futile gesture. He ran frantically around, hoping, pleading that she be alright.

Then, as if to answer his query a great dark voice spoke from all reaches around him. Cackling, sputtering, immensely old, the voice spoke, and despite these traits Jericho recognized a semblance of it to the voice he had just heard this morning; full of arrogance, but also... a shred of worry?

"Raven! Do you really think you can just run to the city and get away? I control this entire plane that the two of us alone consciously inhabit! No matter where you run I know you are there, and only choose not to immediately grasp you so that you learn it is futile to resist my advance!"

A terrific explosion followed the booming voice, and Jericho could tell a great deal of debris was raining down on the roof now. He immediately made for the roof, and reached there just as Raven, who even as a being made up of what looked like her obsidian energy with only the outline of her cloak and her eyes white, he could immediately recognize, was picking herself up from the rubble that had fallen onto the top of the tower. He bolted over to her and pulled her up before she had known he was even there.

"Jericho?" she asked, recognizing his touch. Jericho nodded, and the two stood up together. Before anything else could be said however they both turned as more thundering fell down onto the roof. Jericho watched as a massive being, near twenty feet in height, lumbered over to them, its fingers scraping the concrete and plaster tiles.

"He used to be smaller, but he's been losing the last bits of his soul this past hour. Unfortunately that's been making him only more dangerous." Jericho looked increduously at Raven, who gave him a self-assured but tired look. "If we can hold him off from our souls for the next few minutes, he should fall apart."

"LIKELY TELL!" the creature known as Forrestor yelled as he took a gigantic swipe at the two Titans gathered against him. Jericho pushed himself and Raven down, the raking claw barely missing them. Getting back up, Raven launched a wave of her soul self at the creature, slashing it in the leg and wounding the creature. Forrestor felt down on one knee, and stared with all the loathing he could muster at the two he struggled to get up. Jericho took the cue.

_Contact._

"Jericho, don't!"

But neither Raven's warning nor Jericho's own attempt went right. Rather than jumping into the vampire's body, and fully immersing his only presense on this plane with Forrestor, a great force of light sprang forth from his body, and Jericho collapsed where he was, with Raven this time running to help him. But no sooner had she done that then she had looked up and seen Forrestor take a step back as what had come from Jericho took shape. A great white and blue mane adorned the soul self, with powerful ethereal limbs and a strong tail, and a mighty jaw and set face that seemed more human than animal.

The Lion opened its mouth and let loose a soundless roar, to which Forrestor, with less than two minutes remaining, laughed and ignored, choosing to approach Raven and Jericho behind the soul self. But the lion was not deterred, and jumped up, grasping Forrestor by the face and clawing the creature. The Vampire screamed in pain and grabbed the creature, tossing it off him, but no sooner had he done so than the lion had jumped up on his back, and begun to tear the creature's soul apart, holes appearing wherever the claws went through. Again Forrestor grasped the soul self and this time threw it off the edge of the tower where it disappeared from view. With his soul deteriorating and less than a minute to spare, he ran at Raven, intent to swallow her soul self and restore himself.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" and with those words Raven launched off the platform, flying over and above Forrestor as her namesake bird. Forrestor gave pursuit, following her all the way to the edge where he went to grasp for her, with little but his head and arms left as the rest of his body disintegrated. As if sensing triumph, his grip had almost closed around Raven, when the lion had jumped back up and with one swift motion of its claw, tore the arm apart. His raging scream was shortlived, as the last of his soul about his face, millenia old, evaporated. The sky cleared, the bohemian castleworks disappeared, and Raven landed back onto the platform, returning immediately to the more physical planes. The lion shot back into Jericho, who rolled on his side, but did not stir. Raven ran over to him and looked over him, grasping his hand.

Raven knelt next to Jericho, watching for any sign of life or consciousness on his face. After a minute or two a small smile lighted up on his face, and his eyes opened up to see her, tired but glad. Raven joined him in the look.

**~T~**

"A vampire? Seriously? And I missed it?" Beast Boy was beside himself over what Raven and Jericho had told the others.

"Doesn't sound like it was a whole lot of fun, BB." Cyborg said, agreeing with Raven and Jericho's opinion of the experience.

"I'm still surprised we missed his motives, or how his file for being a HIVE student was even deleted from the databanks." Robin said, more to himself than the others. Sure enough, looking at previous back copies, Eric Forrestor showed up as a top HIVE threat with a great deal of past mysteries that no one had been exactly able to link to him. But, if Forrestor really had been a vampire, it would been all to easy for him to sneak in to the Tower without anyone knowing. Or at least the others had told Robin to try to comfort his security's lapse.

"Still, being a vampire and all I'm kinda' surprised he went after you, Raven. I mean, I thought he'd be able to tell who had a lot of blood to spare and who didn't." Beast Boy and Cyborg both laughed at the pun while Raven shot them a look of slight contempt.

"Regardless friends, the most important thing for us today is that we are all safe and there are no more nearby vampires to trouble us."

"Yeah, I guess you're right Star. Still, it's too bad I didn't get the chance to use a stake or garlic on him, I've been saving up on that stuff for ages just for this sorta' occasion and when it comes, I get knocked out first!"

"Maybe that's why he took you out first, BB, because you stink of all that garlic!"

"What!? No I don't!"

"Do so!"

And as Cyborg and Beast Boy began on another one of their debates, almost with ease forgetting the calamituous event that had just happened, Jericho turned to Raven ever so slightly, and signed for the roof. Preferring the quiet of the roof to hearing any argument involving Beast Boy or his choice of food, Raven agreed. She phased the two of them away, and they were soon at the top of the building, still surrounded by debris left by the initial fight with Forrestor.

Raven and Jericho found a clear spot and the two sat down, staring out as the sun began to set. Jericho had a look utter contentment, Raven a little less so. Jericho was not oblivious to this however, and eventually signed to her about it.

"It's... just that, this is what, the second time you've saved me?" Jericho signed again.

"Well, alright, maybe this time it was more of a team effort., but I wouldn't have been able to have held him off towards the end without you and your... lion soul self." Jericho blushed at the mere mention of what form his soul had taken, and all the things it entailed about him. He signed something not meant to be completely tangible but Raven picked it up, "Yeah, we do sort of make a good team."

The two sat for a long time after this without saying anything. Jericho wanted to say something, but wasn't sure what. His arm inched over behind Raven little by little, the two of them barely an inch apart. He slowly raised it, stopping awkwardly at place, not sure to continue, feeling no true sense of concentration, no sense of what he was really trying to do. He felt his heart beat against his ribcage, blood rushing to his face.

After a minute or so of this, with his eyes darting back and forth from behind Raven to the sunset, Raven picked up, and the color drained from his face. Raven took his arm that had been nearly at her shoulder and put it around her, looking at him with slightly raised eyebrows and smile.

"You don't have to be so panicky, you know." And without saying anything else, she leaned into him, continuing to stare out to the sunset. Jericho felt his pulse die down and his heart return to a steady rythym after a while, and joined Raven at watching the spectacle of nature . They stayed sitting on the roof looking out hours even after the sun had disappeared across the horizon, neither one intent on breaking the moment.

**~END~**

**Author's Notes:It's been a while, and I feel I owe an explanation, so here it is; work and duties elsewhere caught up and I felt I didn't have much time for other things, but more recently with things calming down and DC Comics deciding to take anything Titans (moreso Jericho) and make it horrible, I've been inspired to do some writing again, if only to preserve the old kind spirit of Jericho and others that the canon isn't getting.  
**


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